Godstrike

Games like Godstrike are akin to mathematical puzzles.

There’s a certain logic, a science behind the programming of the hundreds of balls of energy that encircle and threaten to harm the player. The fractal patterns of bullets spewing from a boss construct the constantly tantalizing bullet hells that delight the most masochistic.

Being poor at math and, sometimes, pattern recognition, the genre often drifts past my capabilities as a player. Furi, one of the most engrossing takes on a boss rush game coupled with bullet hell sensibilities, finally bent underneath the weight of my persistence. The furious swell of its synthwave rhythms and dazzling style begged me to eke out the movement patterns of its myriad bosses and their evolving forms. A handful of bosses I was able to master after a handful of deaths, a few proved to be more stubborn and daunting. Nevertheless, my thumbs ached with joy after I rolled credits. Ikaruga tempted me with its color-coded mechanics of doling out and avoiding damage but I just couldn’t stick with it for long enough. Glorious successes. Shameful failures.

Godstrike promises a similar satisfaction, acting as a pastiche of challenging genres that pull no punches with the player and beg for razor-thin accuracy and the yearning to simply do better.

While I attempted not to check out during Godstrike‘s cutscenes explaining that the player is the bearer of Talaal–one of the masks of a god–and that Talaal is attempting to use their powers to defeat the other masks, I sort of did. Story is fairly superfluous in a game like this and Godstrike is no starry-eyed exception. Static cutscenes and blurbs of text have enough mystique that they can string the player’s interest along but honestly, it’s just a flashy method to explain away why players are volleying attacks against a handful of bosses.

The real twist in the formula with Godstrike is that there is no traditional health bar. In lieu of hit points or an immensely frustrating system where one hit equals death, Godstrike uses time as its primary currency for all things. Boss fights range from about 4 to 6 minutes in length and with 10 major fights, players could conceivably finish the campaign of Godstrike in a little under an hour.

However, every time the player is hit they lose upwards of 15 seconds of time. Four hits and there goes a minute. Get hit about ten times and watch as the time to complete a boss gets shaved in at least half. Suffice it to say, Godstrike‘s boss fights go by quick. Players are not meant to be patient and slowly dodge out of the way of attacks. The time crunch forces players to adapt and constantly be on the offensive. At times it can be difficult keeping a bead on a boss while they are moving around and the player is trying to avoid all manner of destruction. Honestly, though, my eyes frequently did not focus on the timer at the top of the screen, otherwise I might lose a split-second of reaction time.

If raw talent doesn’t seem to favor the constantly dwindling seconds, players can take a further hit by equipping up to four skills that offer defensive and offensive abilities. Short range teleports, powerful beams that root Talaal to the ground but deal massive damage, and shot spreads provide additional utility for players to escape damage or further melt a boss. The catch is that equipping these abilities knocks off a set amount of time from the encounter, meaning that players start with a deficit to gain some advantages.

Godstrike uses this risk/reward system to entice players to change up their strategies rather than be scared at the thought of starting out with lost time. Certainly I felt a pit in my stomach after equipping four abilities and starting a fight with a minute already gone. But then I learned that some skills are just great in specific instances, making a few bullet patterns more easy to manage. After all, what is an automatic 15 second time loss when that ability prevents Talaal from taking damage multiple times? Luckily, a number of passive abilities can also be equipped that aid the player and don’t eat away time.

Additionally, players can only activate these skills after collecting orbs that are dropped by the boss when it takes damage. Often these orbs drop very close to the boss and in the harrowing paths of bullets, meaning that it might not always be safe to power up. In theory, Godstrike wants players to engage with its bosses at an aggressive clip. But by providing very little as a way to ease into the action, I expect some will play very defensively and become frustrated that large swaths of time pass as small chunks of a boss’ health are removed.

Puzzling out the best way to dodge out of harm’s way and how to understand the patterns of boss fights is key to enjoying Godstrike. Because the game is not meant to be kind, players who allow the challenge to wash over them and enter zen-like states of fluid motion will only get there by constant death or extreme natural skills. If you’re not up for a challenge, it might be best to avoid Godstrike just to simply avoid frustrating yourself. This is a game that is about grueling bosses, quick thinking, and extreme skill.

Rounding out the package are a series of challenge modes that offer a spin on what is encountered in the main campaign. These modes introduce a roster of new active and passive abilities that aren’t seen in the story and flesh out the greater possibilities of Godstrike‘s mechanics. Boss bullet patterns are changed up and by doing so, act as a bit of a difficulty slider for an already difficult game. While some challenges might feel a touch less brutal, there will be plenty that arrive to kick your ass.

Godstrike‘s ability to provide a somewhat unique offering to the bullet hell and boss rush genres should put it on the radar of any player who seeks out these demanding challenges. I fear that the short length of the base game and the absolutely grueling difficulty will push away a lot of players who just don’t find enjoyment in these kinds of games. However, a variety of modes that evolve the base mechanics give Godstrike enough room to feel special and worth the constant defeat.